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MotorTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Yeah, drifting, yeah, open diff.
00:10 You've asked for more of the classic Japanese greats
00:13 from the early '90s.
00:14 And today, we're delivering on that request
00:17 with this, a Nissan 240SX that we bought off Craigslist.
00:22 Yes, with its ragged paint job and 155 horsepower,
00:26 this Nissan is quite different from the shiny, fast,
00:28 and dangerous machines we normally feature.
00:31 And yet, there's a reason why these things
00:33 are so plentiful at drift events and track days.
00:36 They're cheap, simple, light, and rear wheel drive.
00:41 Further, in an old issue of Motor Trend, December 1990
00:44 to be exact, we called this one of the best handling cars
00:47 currently on the road.
00:49 This week, we'll see how well that description holds up.
00:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:58 First thing, the test track.
01:00 Baseline testing will show us how the performance of this car
01:03 has aged.
01:04 It also gives us an excuse to beat the hell out of it.
01:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:10 If you find yourself in a 20-year-old Nissan 240SX,
01:16 this is how you would go about launching it.
01:19 I found the best launch was about 3,000 RPM
01:21 and then just dump the clutch.
01:22 You'll get a bit of wheel spin.
01:23 But that's OK, because you know.
01:24 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29 That's what these cars do.
01:30 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:33 Now's about the time you'd hit the nitrous if you had some.
01:36 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:40 And we've just past 60, 8.6 seconds.
01:45 And you can just listen to the wonderful sound
01:47 of that 4-inch exhaust pipe as we get the vibration coming
01:51 in pretty strong.
01:52 Quarter mile, 16 and 1/2 seconds, 84.5.
01:56 And wow, these brakes are terrible.
01:58 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:01 60 to 0 braking, best not attempted.
02:04 But here we go anyway.
02:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:09 A nice 157 feet from 60 miles an hour.
02:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:16 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:20 And the 240SX around the figure eight course.
02:24 This is happening.
02:27 It's still slow.
02:27 That hasn't changed.
02:28 No, we don't need to shift at a second.
02:30 That's nice.
02:31 Braking performance, not good.
02:34 Seat support, not good.
02:37 Understeer everywhere.
02:39 Oversteer, yeah!
02:41 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:44 Everywhere.
02:46 Oversteer, yeah!
02:47 Drifting, yeah!
02:48 Open diff, not good.
02:52 A lot of things about this car are not very good.
02:55 You've got a lot of roll.
02:56 You have a terrible seat.
02:58 But as long as we're turning right, that's OK.
03:01 The left turns, you pretty much have
03:04 to hold yourself in place.
03:06 So it's nice.
03:06 It's giving your abs an exercise while you go drifting.
03:09 [TIRES SCREECHING]
03:12 Yeah!
03:14 Get some!
03:15 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:18 So this is a 1993 240SX.
03:32 It's 20 years old.
03:33 And pretty much as far as a 240SX today goes,
03:37 this is a pretty good representation.
03:40 It might be a better representation than most.
03:43 If you were to look at a 240SX on Craigslist,
03:45 you might find this.
03:47 This is a '93 manual transmission, manual mirrors.
03:51 I think we have ABS.
03:52 With a 2.4 liter KA24DE, which is the truck engine
04:01 that Nissan decided to put in the 240SX
04:04 when they brought it over from Japan, where it's called
04:06 the Silvia, and where it came with either a 1.8 turbo
04:10 or a 2 liter turbo.
04:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:14 But we have a truck engine.
04:21 And given that, which isn't that great,
04:25 this car actually drives pretty well.
04:27 It has the basics of a good driving car.
04:30 And that's what it was in the early '90s in the US.
04:33 It is light.
04:34 It's all manual.
04:35 We have power steering, but we don't have traction control
04:38 or stability control.
04:38 We don't even have airbags.
04:39 So it's like a race car in that sense.
04:43 But it's light.
04:44 It has a long wheelbase.
04:45 And crucially, it's rear wheel drive,
04:48 which means you can do drifts.
04:51 [TIRES SCREECHING]
04:54 This KA24 gets a lot of flack.
04:56 But it's actually pretty decent considering
04:58 the condition it's in.
04:59 We've got 131,000 miles on this 132.
05:03 It pulls strongly.
05:05 Although we have a really loud--
05:07 it looks like a four inch exhaust on this thing--
05:09 that makes just an awful, awful noise.
05:14 So this is a good representation of a 240SX
05:17 that you might find on Craigslist.
05:18 And the reason why is because this is actually a 240SX
05:22 that we found on Craigslist and bought.
05:25 So we own this car.
05:28 And I am so happy that's the case.
05:30 Because as terrible as it is objectively,
05:32 it is a lot of fun to drive.
05:34 Sure, we have a bad vibration at about 60 miles an hour.
05:37 The brakes probably haven't been touched since around the time
05:41 that we switched from BC to AD.
05:43 And there's just some general terribleness inside the car.
05:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:50 What makes the 240SX such a great platform?
06:07 Well, it's a rather long wheelbase.
06:09 Not too long, but nice and long.
06:12 Rear drive, and it has a really big engine bay.
06:16 Wonder about all the different things
06:18 you could make that work with.
06:20 It's a pretty durable car.
06:21 It's a pretty trustworthy, reliable car.
06:23 It seems to be kind of overbuilt for what it is.
06:27 You can just beat on this car relentlessly, and it takes it.
06:32 It's really surprising.
06:33 I was super hesitant about driving this car hard
06:35 until I did it and realized, yeah, it's fine.
06:38 And it's also dirt cheap.
06:41 These cars are all over Craigslist
06:43 in various states of acceptability
06:46 in terms of modification and drivability
06:48 and all that stuff.
06:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:52 But they're durable.
06:54 They're reliable.
06:55 They run all right.
06:57 It's almost a shame we're going to hack this thing to pieces
06:59 and put all new parts on it, because it could probably
07:02 do another 100K, as is, as a daily driver.
07:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:10 But what's the fun in that?
07:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:14 Driving old sports cars is always
07:30 a refreshing experience, and the 240SX is no exception.
07:34 Aside from the endearing or annoying oddities
07:37 of early '90s car design--
07:39 the pop-up headlights and those partially automatic seatbelts
07:41 come to mind--
07:42 this Nissan exemplifies the things
07:44 that make a good driving car--
07:46 its light, its simple, and its rear-wheel drive.
07:50 And the importance of those traits
07:51 is worth repeating over and over again.
07:55 Sure, there are some scars from its 20 years on the road,
07:58 not to mention that simply awful exhaust.
08:01 And yet, the quality of the driving experience
08:03 still shines through.
08:05 But what's really exciting is how
08:07 we'll make this car even better in the coming months.
08:11 Stay tuned.
08:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:15 Skrrt.
08:22 Oh, nope, didn't even do that.
08:25 Bawwwwm.
08:27 Bawwwwm.
08:28 It's like a race car.
08:29 Sorry, I just want to say something.
08:31 I love early '90s seatbelts, because you have one
08:34 on the lap here, but then this additional shoulder belt that
08:38 kindly moves when you open the door.
08:41 And it also tangles you up when you don't want it to.
08:46 But it's doubly safe, because there's two different belts.
08:49 Yeah.
08:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:54 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:57 (upbeat music)